The top American commander for the Middle East wants a more aggressive Afghan military pressuring Taliban and other insurgents over the normally quieter months of Afghanistan’s winter, and then quickly going on the offensive in the spring, the Associated Press reports.

Gen. Joseph Votel of U.S. Central Command said an influx of new American trainers can help escalate the fight against insurgents. They’ll be operating with Afghan units, closer to the front lines and at greater risk, but Votel said U.S. commanders will ensure American and allied forces have adequate protection.

Votel said as the coalition builds up the Afghan Air Force and trains more security forces, the Afghans will become better fighters. “By the time they get to the next fight,” he said, “they will be able to really present a significant offensive capability.”

Does this all sound familiar? It’s the same theme that has been brought forth almost every year for the last decade.

Training of Afghan security forces has been, of course, going on longer than that. Training of the Afghan National Army began in 2002 and within a year troops were sent into the field. By 2003, coalition soldiers had trained a force of 38,000 Afghans.

The Canadian military was heavily involved in such training. Afghans, Canadian officers pointed out, were natural warriors. Indeed, the Afghan National Army or ANA was so successful they were planning and conducting their own military operations in Kandahar by 2007, officers noted.

“This is an organization that has positive momentum,” then Lt.-Col. Wayne Eyre, head of the Canadian mentoring team told the National Post in May 2007. “It’s getting better and better and will continue to do so. This army is indicative of the future of Afghanistan. This war is winnable.”

That assessment might be open to question these days.

This summer, FDD’s Long War Journal determined that 45 percent of Afghanistan’s districts are controlled or contested by the Taliban.

The ANA tends to control urban areas while the Taliban control rural districts.